I try to walk 3-4 times a week. I go to classes at my Ymca and my Rec center and also Silver sneakers. Been off track the past few months due to health issues and the cold temps here in OH. When the weather is bad outdoors, I usually do the Leslie Sansone dvd's that I really love. Have cut back on carbs and try to eat only the good ones. Irish Ei

I REALLY like the chocolate bombs recipe from Dana Carpender's fat fast cook book. They are very satisfying for a sweet tooth.

Scale is still not moving, so I think I might have to repeat the fat fast a few times to get things going. I'm giving the cat medicine 3 weeks to get out of my system to see if that makes a difference.

I've stayed the same weight, even though I went back to Induction, so I'm happy with that.

Also, I think I may have figured out my issue with loosing weight. My cat went on meds for hypothyroidism in October 2010, and 3 months later my hot flashes started - 4 an hour, 24 hours a day. They are a little better now, but I think I may be on to something. I crush her pills and put them in her food. Then I just rinse my hands and rub them dry with a paper towel. I looked around online today, and this is not the proper way to handle these types of pills. I will be washing with soap and water and touching the pills as little as I can.

Hoping we can get this group more active. I'm not new to lo-carb, but it's been a while (several years) since I've tried this.

Background: To say that I have been struggling is an understatement. I was on a program for 10 months. I initially lost 20 lbs, and have been stuck at that weight for 8 months. I started running again, worked out with a trainer twice a week and had nutritional counseling. Nothing was working.

After 2 weeks of induction with no results, I decided to try the fat fast. If this didn't work, I don't know what I would do.

I'm on day 3 of a 4 day fat fast, and I'm down 6 lbs and 1/2 inch on all measurements. I don't think it s a lot of water weight, because I have been trying induction for 2 weeks. I don't know if I'm in ketosis, because I don't have test strips.

I ran on Sunday, and I have a race this weekend, so I don't want to be doing the fat fast on race day - I will need some carbs.

I just read an article on the benefits of Green Tea Powder, and I plan to try this in my smoothies. I'm really trying to like avocado, and found a smoothie recipe that includes the Green Tea Powder. I'll let you know how I like it.

Same for me. It's been the only reason why I hung in here for so long. I wish you success. Remember: once you figure out what the issue is, it's easier to deal with. Since I figured out that I was eating too much grain everyday, it's been easier to deal with. Sure I still want bread every meal, and it's real hard to say no and stick to my guns, but today is a real success story for me and I kinda proud of myself. I even turned down popcorn, one of the hardest things for me to do because it smells so good. But I have a goal in mind and It's getting closer and I'm determined to reach out and take it and not let go.

Amy - I'm going to stop participating on this team and let it die. It's been you and I for quite awhile and now I'm the only one participating. I know how busy you are and how life crowds in because I'm in the same boat, so I'm just going to let this team go.

You can find me on the QOTD team and Water Aerobics. I hope to see you on one of those, especially the QOTD team. It means Question of the Day and I ask a question you can answer if you like, but we a small team, with a few core people that participate often.

Just got through with the 5 articles we have to read in order to get 25 points. May give up points from now on. When you go to the bottom of the page and click on the next page or the GET YOUR POINTS button, an ad pops up, irritating me in the first place but when it gets stuck and won't give the points until the commercial is over and it's for Bridesmaids, which apparently is with one very large rolly=polly woman who is an exhibitionist to boot, it just gets raunchy and disgusting and I am extremely offended by it.

I have always gone along with SP putting on the commercials in order to keep the site free, but I am really wondering at this need to put on more and more ads. Four at the top, about 3 on each page and one on the left side and now we have to deal with the popup commercial on the bottom of most if not all of the articles and even popups when looking at the recipes. If I quit SP, it will be because of those obnoxious and irritating ads. I don't need a near naked anyone dancing all over my screen. What if I had grandchildren right here? it just isn't needed, required, or wanted at any level and I'm pretty hot about it.

Guess, I tell someone in SP that might be able to do something about it.

I also notice Chef_Meg has been missing lately. Another interesting aspect of our favorite website that seems to have gone off the deep end.

Doing more stuff with peaches today. Tonight we are having yesterday's recipe of the day, Pork Chops & Peaches.

Last night we did the recipe of the day for Saturday, Salsa Chicken. I make our own salsa. We use Robert Irving's (Chef on Food Network) Salsa recipe. We made some yesterday and it was so fresh and great tasting. Anyway, the chicken came out so good. It was for four breasts, but I only had 3 in my freezer packet that I thawed so I only made three. It was so good. And when you think about the fact that you know exactly what is in it, and you can just track it so easily cuz you have the recipes or various ingredients in your tracking system, it just makes it better all the way around.

I had to tweak the recipe I had put in my recipe box so the tracker comes out right. We put one jalapeno pepper in our salsa, and Robert Irvin's recipe doesn't have any. It made it a tiny hotter, but so good.

Anyway, all really low cal and really low carb. I couldn't get over 100 carbs yesterday no matter what I did.

Having stomach problems this morning. Haven't been able to function for two days at least, I think it might be 3 days. Absolutely no urge yet and it's scaring me. If the coffee doesn't get it going in a bit, I'm sending the DH after something. Don't have any ill feelings, just a little bla and gaining weight which has to be that fact as I'm not eating anything that would put tonnage back on.

Doing stuff with peaches today. Bob bought $12.00 worth of peaches from the local produce stand she gave him a basket. Kinda farm style cutsey - unfortunately, I'm ridding our lives of all the stuff we have collected over the lifetime.

Super job on the exercise, and the grocery shopping and produce run. You're doing GREAT!

I sort of fell off the wagon for a day and I'm paying for it today. Bread! I got a real low BSL 69 and I felt so shaky and weak and all I wanted was carbs, quick. I practically stuffed a loaf of bread down my throat. I didn't care at the time, but I knew I would care later. I do.

Only thing to do is get back up, dust myself off, look at what I did to cause the carb fest and learn how to not do it again. I think I have it figured out now so have already made my plans on how to combat the BSL crashes. A little scary from in here, too.

It's much cooler and no humidity today so I went running. I ran about 3.3miles. It felt really good. Now I must get some housework done. Did my grocery shopping after my run so that's done. Now I need to run to the farmer's market this afternoon and pick up some produce. I am craving some crispy apples.

Already got my time at the pool. It's cooler here, like in the mid 80s and the water is a little chillier, but still warm enough to jump around in. I always think the cooler water gets you jumping a lot earlier.

I did another day of 60 minutes non-stop walking and 45 of water aerobics.

Seems to be the normal for me now, which is good, except to extend it means two hours of hopping around.

I agree with you about canning. You know what's in it and it is rewarding to have a pantry full of food you processed. Makes you feel somewhat self sufficient. I would like to do some red pepper jelly. It always good on crackers with cream cheese, and with the holidays coming it will come in handy.

I am sorry to hear about your training. I think you could probably find a physician's office or dental office that needs help. You never know what you may luck into.

We have had a heat wave here. 98 degrees Tuesday and 94 yesterday. Today is rainy and in the 70's. Tomorrow is supposed to cool down to the 50's...ugh..

We used to have a pear tree in our back yard. It had been neglected for decades, so we pruned it, knowing nothing of pear trees, but we really didn't care one way or the other, although we were not out to kill it. The thing grew more fruit, lusher fruit after than before. We canned pears, gave pears away, had some stolen by a neighbor that I scared her socks off, but she knew what she was doing.

I think I canned more stuff in 1999 just before the millennium scare not because of that, but the crops were so productive and cheap that year that we were canning like crazy. We ate on it for quite awhile so I know that if even a portion of those predicted things came true, which none did, we would have made it through on the food anyway.

But it is so rewarding to eat it later and know you canned it and it is so good. Besides, you know whats in it. I've got Bob convinced that canning is something we are going to do in the future, too.

Well, I'm on the hunt for a new company to do data entry for. The one I am still interning with has convinced me that they are not going to pass me and were "rigging" it all against me from the moment they realized they "hired" a person without 5 years medical experience. Talk about irritating for me. I don't consider it wasted. I am looking for another company that hopefully will not be like that. But when they bold face lie to you, you know to read between the lines and they stink.

Anyway, I'm looking so things are little on hold for me and my husband is not helping by his constant little remarks about having to find something by the 1st of January. That doesn't help at all. I am looking at anyplace that has a doctor (even vets) or rehab centers, anything. If I can get it done from home, even better.

Sounds like you got yourself super organized for the week. We had a busy weekend too. Friday night my husband and I picked at least a bushel and a half of peaches from his parents trees. We took a bushel home with us and canned them on Sunday. Saturday we spent the day with our friends at their cottage. We took a peach pie with us. This canning thing is getting out of control. This summer was a great year here. A friend of my husband's asked him to come out and pick some pears. I see more work in my future.

Amy - thanks for the encouragement. I do wonder why I even thought I could do this, but when they accepted me without any experience in the medical industry, I figured they knew how to train me. Now I am not so sure, but I have learned so much, it is so very interesting, I really like it when I am into the research part of it, and I've come so far, so I just don't want to give up. However, it's pretty hard to be an intern forever and that's what I feel like is happening. It get's very frustrating and you are not the first to say that doctors have mush mouths. I know it is only because they make their lives so busy trying to make the money they feel they should command that when they get to the dictation they take shortcuts. I was working with one doctor's dictation for several months. He would eat while dictating. You could hear him swallowing and chewing and it was disgusting to me because I was always trained to not talk while eating or with your mouth full.

Another was a PA that would sit at a desk, probably the doctor's, and dictate with a voice drama that drove me nuts. I tried to like her, figured she was doing her job to the best she could but she was dramatic, and someone would come in to put something on the desk and she would start talking to them, so it was all twisted into the dictation. Instead of going back to find the place where she was off dictating but left the machine running, she would just keep going and you were often times not sure where the conversation ended and the dictation started again.

Yet I can understand a lot of the multitasking while dictating. They are trying to catch up and keep going because they have 8 or 10 or more patients to see still. My doctor used to book them in every 10 minutes. That's way too many. We would sit out front and when the room got full, the receptionist would disappear for a few minutes, the line at her desk would grow out the door. She would come back, have to rush to get the people through the line, and suddenly the nurses would start coming out and calling people. When it was you being called you discovered they were clearing the front waiting room into the back waiting rooms. You still waited for over an hour total time. I pitched a fit with the doctor about it and I know others were, too. He is still apologizing for being late to me and I know he apologizes to others, but even after making policy to book patients in every 30 minutes, he's still backed up and they aren't doing it every 30 minutes, they are doing it every 15 minutes. 32 patients a day is nuts. There's not time to dictate for the record, they don't have the time to back it up and fix their blunders and they are human, they make mistakes.

They also have an attitude, perpetuated by the transcription industry of, "I don't care what it sounds like or what the transcriptionist hears. It's their job to figure it out and as long as they get it right, fine. Don't bother me!" Unfortunately, someone has to go back to the doctor and ask them what they actually said in a particular spot, which means they have to get the patient file and try to figure out what they scrambled. That's wasted time for them. They aren't making a penny on researching past work. But it has to be right, it has to be done, and it has to be quick. I just think they should have to be trained in how to dictate, at least the basics.

So enough with my rant. I will get the test back with all the corrections and information, but I am also going to ask if I can go back to English as a first language doctors.

Tomato Butter is really just jam. It turned out pretty good. I had it on an English Muffin with some peanut butter and it was good.

Sorry to hear about your test. Hopefully you will get a comprehensive report so you know where you missed. Don't let it upset you. Transcription is tough. When I worked for the ENT's the transcriptionists would often ask me to listen because they couldn't make out a word. Sometimes you just can't. Other times you can figure things out very easily. It's not a super easy job.

Not sure I would appreciate tomato butter, but it sounds interesting enough to taste it and I am pretty sure my husband would like it. He pretty much likes all things tomato!

I took the test, Know I did not pass it as it would have taken me a week to untangle some of the words she mutilated, scrambled, and twisted up. But I will at least get the results back and who knows, I may have done better than I think - but not passing. I had a lot of clicking, pops, and squeals through the tape, too. I am supposed to type in garbled in bold where I can't hear anything because of the noise. I don't know if they count it as an error - I would not - it's not the transcriber's fault the transmission came with extra crap. And I figure if it were work that you get paid for, you'd have to go back to someone to get the answers to that part anyway.

Have to wait for the answer though.

So today was more relaxing for me. Bob had no appts to go work on today and we went to the beach for a few hours. I wrote storyline in a notebook with a pen while he fed fish with shrimp. He caught a little perch and threw it back. Looked like a cute saucer. I also fed a kajillion ants a french fry. We stopped at McDs for lunch on the way out and I got a quarter pounder with bacon and cheese. It was done very well and I got it on the dry side without all the stuff they usually put on them. It was a change from the hard work I've been putting in and it felt good. I'll pay for it tomorrow on the scale, but for today, it was a nice treat - so I'll look at it that way.

PCRM=Physician's Council for Responsible Medicine. It's a good website, lots of good information. Each month they have the kick-start. Look it up.

I would be frustrated too with what you are telling me. Hopefully you will feel confident enough to take your test soon. Unfortunately doctors are mush mouths-Americans being the worse sometimes. I'm sure your practicing will be of benefit. You can always rant to me and I will listen:)

I am making tomato butter with my mom today. It's more like a jam. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Great plan. I don't know what PCRM 21-kickstart is. Is that on SparkPeople? It sounds good cuz I eat lots of fruit and veggies. My stomach has never been real happy on fruits and veggies as I always have so much gas from them, but my mouth likes them, and actually, I think all of me except my stomach likes them.

Off to the pool now. Then I attempt to finish this awful test I am stuck with. It is so full of noises that I can't hear what she is saying and I know they save the absolute worst dictation for tests. I am sure they are looking for people that just won't give up. I've been trying to do this for 5 years and just got done with the last education they gave me which helped a great deal, but then they turned around and gave me English as a second language. I don't know if they will give me back to an English speaking doctor. This Spanish doctor is really hard to understand and I can't sit here forever practicing on the easy ones to be down the tube on every test due to lack of help, education, and attitudes. I am so frustrated with it and I have no place to go with it so I just keep working on it.

Sorry to dump a rant here, but I am frustrated and the DH does not help.

I is very disappointing to go into thinking you can do it because you can see how far you have come only to be cut down by garbage that should never have been accepted. I don't know how doctors think they can work putting out garbage for dictation and then be able to survive a legal battle. I know, without a doubt, that if this one particular dictation is ever challenged in a legal situation, she won't be able to get herself out of it because a great many of her words are so mispronounced and garbled together that even she won't be able to figure out what she said or what she meant. I have also found where the transcriptionist has mistranscribed and no one caught the error so it's in someone's medical file somewhere. I don't understand giving someone a pile of practice files that are wrong and then expect them to be good at what they do on a daily basis. This is what I am dealing with.

When I ask a question, I am told, just follow the key. Funny, that won't work when it comes to the test because it's wrong.

I did work all weekend, it was my holiday to work. It went quickly as it was very busy for a holiday weekend. Off today and need to do some housecleaning and laundry. I will be doing some cooking too.

I too have a challenge. I started PCRM 21-kickstart. It is a vegan kickstart. I have to start eating more healthily. I have been letting too much junk back in to my diet. This is a chance to refocus on eating a whole-foods, plant-based diet. I am hoping to shed 10 pounds and then keep on till I reach my 30 pound goal. I turn 50 in January and I need to have my weight and eating in check. It's more about health now. I could look and feel much better than I do.

It's raining here so it is a good day to get lots of things accomplished. I also plan on getting a workout in too. My husband has decided it is time for him to lose some weight and change some bad habits so we are walking after dinner as many days a week as possible.

Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend and didn't have to work all of it.

We had a nice restful one here. We stayed home, the beaches were packed and we don't enjoy them when you have to fight to get to them and then fight to find a place to park, to sit, to walk, to do anything, especially use the latrines, and then fight to get back home. We went to the pool and were nearly alone. It was nice, too.

Lots of thunder and pushy clouds, but no rain. We stuck to our menu and I was pretty proud of myself. I've got a new personal challenge going, no grain products (bread, pasta, rice, or anything with grain except for 1 portion a day. I blew it when I ate 3 graham crackers yesterday without thinking. Bob put them beside me - he's not trained yet - and I saw them and ate them then remembered my challenge. I kicked myself several times to no avail and then just accepted my lack of thought! Will it ever change?!

However, through it all, I lost the 6ounces I had gained and so I am really sure my challenge is working for me. I was within all my limits except fat and I can't see to change that setting, no matter what I do. Sometimes that tracker just does not make sense.

I used to make a granola from Ball Jar Canning Book, but since I gave the book away, I have not been able to find that recipe and I've kicked myself several times for not having written it down first. I did checkout their site and didn't find it, but going to try again.

I did pool walking today for a whole hour without stopping and no pain so feeling great about it all and went down a pound from yesterday's 45 minute walk (got chased out of the pool by a T-Storm) but not today.

Ball Jar Site had a canning book out that I loved. When I moved to Florida the DH said, "We'll never can again so get rid of the canning stuff. I did then I kicked myself every canning season for the last 10 years. Never say "Never" again!

The ketchup sounds great. Made me want some. Girl, sounds like you got a lot of tomatoes. We can't get them to grow here. Don't know why as our neighbors get them to grow. My DH has tried to grow them straight in the ground and in the earth boxes and they grow up giving us hope then croak. Right now he's trying spaghetti squash for me. If it grows I'll bug him for hubbard next year. Love that Hubbard.

We got a few tiny string beans this year. About enough for a meal. They were not very fat and my DH fixed them for dinner and didn't string them and I can't stand eating them with the strings! He really didn't know how to do it or that you had to string them.

Well, I'm going to look at a few blogs for this team and see if some of my replies can garner a little more participation on this team. It just feels so dead as no huddles and no one, other than you and I participate. Not sure if I can change that but I can only try.

I wish you luck on your test. I'm sure when you feel ready you will do fine and pass with flying colors. It's important to feel confident before you take your test.

You sound like you are back to yourself and exercising up a storm. I need to get back in gear, my vacation threw me off. I picked a bushel of tomatoes and made a batch of ketchup and some stewed tomatoes yesterday. I still have a half to go so I plan on making some salsa today. Then I think I may be done for a bit although I would like to make some dilly beans and probably could do another half bushel of tomatoes. I guess I will see how I feel next week. The ketchup turned out very good. It's pretty spicy and tasted yummy on my egg sandwich this am. I took the recipe right off the Ball Jar site.

So trying to make my jitters go away by continuing to listen and practice. I basically have the written part, it's hearing what she is saying. Sometimes she says it so mashed and even after looking at the key I wonder how they got what they got from her dictation and sometimes I discover that the transcriptionist got it wrong when I finally hear it. Apparently no one really checks these although they claim they do from the get go.

But for now, I am subject to being checked very closely so they can pass me on the test or not. I am fairly sure I will pass, but its a case of nerves - which testing never helped.

So I've been doing my exercises and yesterday I did 45 minute sin the pool walking and jogging for about 10 minutes of the 45 without stopping at all. Made me feel pretty good and I know I'm back to normal or what I was before in the exercise department. But if I'm going to keep eating as I am right now, I'll have to do more.

My blood sugar levels lately have been low. Yesterday I tested at 74 before my morning snack. I was shaking - it was too low and it wasn't the first day it was so low. I don't like it that low. It's nice in the sense of being low, but when I feel weak and shaky and dizzy, it's too low.

If I take the test and make over 3 error, I fail and I can't take it again until I go through 80 more practice files. I get no money until I pass three tests with less than 3 errors. I'm still trying to pass the 1st test. I have made no money yet and the budget is getting dryer and dryer.

Besides, I'm getting tired of not having Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays or anything else because we have no money for it and it bugs the crap out of me that my DH books us into trips we can't afford and then expects me to enjoy it and complains about no money afterward. Yes - one of those things.

I refuse to become a harpie on this stuff, but it really hacks me off when he asks, when are you going to test again?

Anyway, on the lighter side - I went to the pool this morning, did 45 minutes of constant walking and about 10 minutes of jogging in the middle of it. Felt really good, too.

We were buying our lobster from a local lobsterman. He lives a few minutes away from my sister and steams them for you if you want. We had him steam them and we cooked the sides at home and ate there. Much cheaper and more delicious I'm sure.

CT will be nice in October. I'm sure you will find some reasonable lobster. I guess they are very plentiful this year.

If you take your test and don't pass are you able to re-take? Do they tell you what you missed? Sometimes it's best to take the plunge and do it. I bet you are very prepared and will do fine. I took a certification test a few yrs ago and was afraid I wouldn't pass. I just bit the bullet and took it and passed. Sometimes we just psych ourselves out. Good luck.

We're going to CT in early October, but while I want to go on up to ME, we won't be able to this year. Maybe I can find a cheap lobster joint in CT.

I am so ready to take my next test on Medical Transcription but I am so scared,, I can't push the button to take the test. It's kind of strange too because I feel more confident in what I'm doing, but I'm more nervous than before. I feel like my stress is up to about a 9 today while its been about 2 for a couple of weeks now.

I don't understand why I feel like I can pass the thing, and yet I am afraid to go at it. Something is holding me back and I don't know what it is. Guess I'll work on that today.

Back from Maine. We had a lovely time. The weather was perfect. Lots of beach, lobster, and fun. Off today so we can put everything away and do laundry. Back to work tomorrow but it's ok after a nice break.

Time to work on portion sizes again. I am motivated to start losing again. It seems portions have been getting bigger so I will be working on that.

We are having a gray rainy day today so it's a good day to get some work done.

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